1. Field
The present invention relates generally to automobile radio receiver apparatus and particularly to replacement radio receiver apparatus having adjustable means for varying the spacing between the radio enclosure and the control elements so as to be capable of adapting to existing cutouts and control element apertures in automobile dashboards.
2. State of the Art
Radios have been a standard accessory in automobiles for decades and are generally mounted in the automobile dashboard. An automobile radio will generally include a radio case or enclosure having a display extending therefrom or mounted therein to display to a user the radio setting, and will generally also have a pair of control knob shafts extending therefrom for mounting control knobs for controlling and changing the settings of the radio. Usually one knob will control the volume of the radio and a second knob will control the tuning of the radio. Newer automobile radios may also include tape players and/or CD players.
Car radios, particularly car radios from the 1950's through the 1980's, generally have a face plate forming the front of the radio case or enclosure or mounted to the front of the radio case or enclosure, with the radio display and the control knob shafts for the control knobs extending from the face plate. The control knob shafts will generally include threaded control knob shaft sleeves extending from the radio through which the control knob shafts extend. To mount these radios in the dashboard of an automobile, the dashboard will generally provide a display opening to receive the radio display and shaft openings to simultaneously receive the pair of control knob shafts with respective control knob shaft sleeves extending from the radio. The radio is then secured in the dashboard by nuts screwed onto the control knob shaft sleeves from the front of the dashboard to secure the radio face plate and the radio case to the back of the dashboard. Thus, the dashboard is sandwiched between the radio face plate and the nuts tightened onto the threaded control knob shaft sleeves, which securely hold the radio in place in the dashboard. When mounted in the dashboard, the radio display will fit into the display opening in a manner so that it can be seen by a user and the control knob shafts for the control knobs will extend through the shaft openings and sleeves so that control knobs mounted on the shafts are accessible to a user to control the radio thus mounted. A back strap may sometimes also be used to secure and stabilize the back of the radio case or enclosure in position behind the dashboard.
As indicated, automobile radios are generally mounted in automobile dashboards. However, each model of automobile generally has a different dashboard design and usually dashboard designs change from year to year or at least every several years. With each new dashboard design, the size and placement of the radio display and the positioning of the control knobs for the radio are changed. Thus, over the last fifty or more years, hundreds of different dashboards with different display configurations and locations and different control knob shaft placements have been produced. Generally, each of the different dashboard designs with different display configurations and locations and different control knob shaft placements were accompanied by a different radio specifically configured to fit the particular dashboard design. The particular radios in the configurations to fit these many dashboards have long been out of production.
Radios do not last forever, and further, in recent years, there have been many improvements to automobile radios. Many older car drivers and classic car owners wish to replace the original radio in their vehicle with a new radio, either to provide a radio that works if the original radio has stopped working, or to provide a new radio with the additional features of more modern radios. Unfortunately, new original equipment replacement radios are not available for older cars, and further, new after market replacement radios to fit the many old dashboard radio configurations generally are not available.
There have been past attempts to provide replacement radios that provide adjustability of the spacing of the control knob shafts in order to allow the radio to fit a number of different dashboard radio (display opening and shaft opening) configurations. These radios generally have face plates with slots in which the control knob shafts are slidably mounted so their position can be adjusted to the extent allowed by the slots. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,067,654 and 3,906,371 both show radios with face plates with openings for the control knob shafts to pass through that are large enough to allow adjustment of the position of the shafts with respect to the radio case and display in both spacing and height in order to have one radio that can be adjusted to fit into a number of different automobile dashboards. Positioning plates are provided to locate the shafts in an adjusted fixed position in the face plate so as to fit a desired dashboard configuration in a desired car. U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,879 shows portions of the radio case from which the control knob shafts extend that slide in and out to adjust the spacing between the control knob shafts to fit different dashboard shaft opening configurations. However, the range of differences in mounting configurations for radios in the dashboards of older cars is very great and the limited adjustability in spacing and height of the control knob mounting shafts provided by the prior art will only cover a limited number of radio configurations. Thus, although these prior art replacement radios can fit a number of different dashboard arrangements, it is only a limited number of dashboard configurations.
The problem still exists of providing a replacement radio for older automobiles that will fit a wide range of older automobile dashboard arrangements and make replacement radios available for use with most older cars. The availability of replacement radios for older cars is becoming more of a problem as the number of particular older cars in need of such replacement radios becomes more limited. Thus, it is becoming almost impossible for classic and antique car owners to find replacement radios for their cars.